Indico strengthens links with the International Investigative Interviewing Research Group (iIIRG)

Indico strengthens links with the International Investigative Interviewing Research Group (iIIRG) as Teesside University prepares to install an Indico server solution

July 2009

Following last month's news that the University of Portsmouth had chosen an Indico Systems digital recording solution for the Institute of Criminal Studies, Indico is delighted to announce that Teesside University has also chosen to implement an Indico Server Solution.  The addition of Teesside University to Indico Systems’ ever increasing portfolio of UK customers (including several police forces and educational institutions) is a real coup, as Teesside is at the forefront of the field in this area, training hundreds of police officers every year from the Cleveland and Durham police forces, and running degrees in Policing and Investigations. The University also played a major part in the formation of the International Investigative Interviewing Research Group (iIIRG), a research group which brings together academics and practitioners who wish to study and carry out research in investigative interviewing of victims, witnesses and suspects of crime. The iIIRG is influential throughout the world in helping to shape interviewing policy and practice for police officers and other law enforcement agencies.  

Gavin Oxburgh, a Senior Lecturer in Forensic Psychology at Teesside University and Chairman and Founding Member of the iIIRG, is already looking forward to the many benefits that a fully networked digital recording solution can bring to his training and research.  

“The time saving and cost benefits of going digital have long been touted, but simply moving things from tape to CD isn’t really going to impact the work we do, nor save UK Police forces' time and money in the same way that a server-based interviewing solution will," he says. "The benefits of moving all our interviews and training modules to a server-based solution will be two-fold, as it will help both our police training courses and our research work with the iIIRG. From a training perspective, the ability to clearly bookmark and retrieve good and bad examples of interviewing from thousands of hours of interviews will revolutionise the way in which we train our students. In addition, the introduction of an e-learning course (which will allow students to study in their own time, from anywhere in the UK) will enable us to provide 24/7 access to all the resources the students will need."

"I’m also very excited by the fact that I could be on the other side of the world running an iIIRG workshop, and yet easily locate and pull up examples right there and then from the UK, in real time, if a specific type of interview is being discussed or needed," Oxburgh adds.

Simon Jones, Indico Systems UK Sales Director, added: “We are pleased to strengthen our relationship with Gavin and his team at Teesside to help them with their research work, and to improve the standard of interview training for their police foundation training and Bsc Honours degrees. We are already talking with Cleveland Police about implementing this solution into a number of their interviewing rooms, so Indico is thrilled to help with the process from lecture theatre to police interview room, with students graduating from Teesside already well versed in using this technology and therefore able to apply what they have learned to real live police investigations.”